Lostprophets Albums Removed From Sale by HMV

UG editorial team. A group of people who are passionate about guitar and music in general.

Posted on Nov 29, 2013 10:55 am

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In the light of Ian Watkins trial, music retailer HMV has announced that all Lostprophets releases will be taken off shelves for good in each of the company's 140 UK stores.
The info was officially confirmed by a spokesperson, who told NME that the staff had already received instructions to remove all records from sale. Apple and Amazon reps were also asked for comments, but haven't replied as of yet.
According to the same source, the police officer involved in the Watkins case was put under investigation for "gross misconduct" after reportedly failing to act on allegations of a 15-year-old girl being raped. As previously reported, Watkins' ex-girlfriend Joanna Majic claimed she had been trying to reach the authorities regarding the singer's pedophilia for four years.
"The IPCC investigation into whether or not South Wales Police failed to take appropriate and timely action in relation to information they were in receipt of in advance of Mr Watkins' subsequent arrest is ongoing," the official statement reads. "We are considering matters dating back to 2008.
"At this stage the investigation is focused on the actions of one officer, a detective sergeant who is also being investigated in another case where it is alleged he failed to act on an allegation that a 15-year-old girl had been raped. That remains ongoing. The detective sergeant has been served with gross misconduct notices advising him that his conduct is subject to investigation."
Watkins pleaded guilty to a string of heinous child sex offenses, including abuse, sexual touching, oral and full sex, as well as urinating on babies and underage teenage girls. As reported, he wasn't alone in his acts, since mothers of abused children were also involved in crimes. More details on Watkins' girlfriend story here; you can also find detailed info about the singer's crimes here.

They have made some great tunes. It's a shame that they're all going to be forgotten because Ian fked everything up... on a massive scale. I'm going to miss listening to those tunes.
Most of the songs have lyrics which sound horrible now after this 'Lived glass lies, doing my time, never gonna misss what i left behind, if i get the chance of doing it again I wouldn't change it' (not exact quote, but hopefully you get what I'm on about).

Yeah i totally agree. I have never been a fan, but it is a shame that the rest of the band has to suffer because of that sick ****. This is what it's like in the UK though, even the slightest mention of Gary Glitter could cause a riot.

I agree 100% with mitchy86 it makes no sense to punish many because of one persons actions. Had they not disbanded immediately and maybe got a new singer for an ep, disowning Ian they may have been able to prevent this but it's just terrible.

thats the problem. i wouldnt say ian watkins was a household name, so he will probably remembered as that bloke from lostprophets, thus tarring all of them will the same disgusting brush.
just wondering now about guitar hero world tour, that had rooftops on it i think

thats right ! And if in the years they were in close proximity to this freak you or any other swingin dick expects me to believe that they or at least one of the countless people in his employ didnt see or detect something strange! especially after the flood of charges he pled guilty to, crimes that seem to keep coming by the day, crimes we will probably never truly know the extent of or how many victims this worm really has! if you expect me to buy that crock about everyone else in the band including management roadies groupies you name it forget it and if you do your just as guilty as they are! they may not have known he was having sex with babies or pissing on kids but they knew he was o freak someone saw child porn someone saw him hook up with underage girls someone saw something and kept quiet for the $$$$ you know it so don't go down voting people like kainv or because he or she is abso fuggin lutely right! you people make me sick! it's funny how people act when their rock stars get the shaft! society gave micheal jackson a pass he was brought up child molestation charges not once but twice! REALLY! he O.D'S on RX meds and the courts put the doc in prison for a few years get real! the people that were around the wonderful ian watkins knew full well he was twisted ok maybe not to the full extent but they knew at very least one person knew enough to derail the whole thing there is simply no way he could hide it with all the crap this idiot was doing remember he pled out GUILTY TO IT ALL!! I'M WITH YOU KAINV! screw the fan boys and girls this band is done and so are the "musicians" that were in the"band" never again will they make money making music. thank god. i cant wait till i hear the news that mr. watkins has hung himself with his prison issued boxers! or worse! go to hell watkins!!!!!

I very much doubt they knew what was going on and the scale of his dark intentions! Knew he was a ****ing weirdo? Yeah probably but I could name you hundreds of weirdos out there in music. And considering the shit state of the music industry these days I'd challenge any musician to kick out their front man if they're on a spate of success with him.

How old are you? Theres a difference between being a bit of a perv and planning baby sex slaves. Do you honestly think they sat round the tour bus discussing what toddler to p*ss on next? People like Watkins are secretive and are masters of deceiving people - look at any serial killer or serial sex offender.

Okie doke - show me the bit that says his band mates knew about his actions and we'll call it quits... of course you wont find that because what you've done is take one part of the hearing which said something about him talking with the other offenders (the 2 mothers), and applied that to the rest of the band. I swear the human race just loves blaming everyone for everything.

Kind of jumping to conclusions here mate. If it was a known fact that he'd bragged about it openly, having left evidence on the internet, he couldn't feasibly have denied the charges for the past year or so.

they damn well knew. He openly spoke about it to his ex and his fans, he didnt even try to hide it. I'm guessing the reason they didnt say anything is because if they admit they knew they would be accountable for his actions so denial is the best defense.

No, you can't really tell. I had a friend, well I'd consider him an acquaintance, but we would go party at his place after hockey games and everything. He went to jail for about a year on child porn charges, and we had no clue about it. Sure, he was a bit or a weirdo, but we attributed that to being an engineer lol.

If you read the article about the band's interviewer, he said Ian 'seperated' himself from the band. He stayed in seperate hotels form the band, drove different cars. During interviews, he would miss most of it. when he arrived, the interviewer said the atmosphere changed.
If the band knew, they would have said something. Ian's too screwed in the head to fix now.

they damn well knew. He openly spoke about it to his ex and his fans, he didnt even try to hide it. I'm guessing the reason they didnt say anything is because if they admit they knew they would be accountable for his actions so denial is the best defense.

Personally I don't think that's a very good idea. Would it not be more appropriate to write Watkins out of his cut of album sales? This does more harm to innocent members of the band than Watkins. I don't expect them to sell much now, but the other members put 15 years into their band, it seems unfair to try and wipe that away from them. God they must hate Watkins.

Watkins' crimes are utterly horrendous, but attempting to censor Lostprophets' music isn't the right response. If anything, Watkins alone should stop receiving royalties so his ex-band aren't made to suffer for his own vile acts.

And then the victims grow up, and can't walk into a record store without being reminded of the horrible ordeal they've been through. It's bad enough that they could still theoretically go to a party or here it on the radio. To have the utmost respect for the victims, the only solution would be to literally destroy everything he ever did (which I know would never happen)...

Unlikely scenario. If the kid walks into a record store and gets reminded that Lostprophets, a band that nobody would care about in 15 years, was home of the lead singer who did that kind of shit to them, then have a response because of it, the odds of that are really slim. Simply walking into a record shouldn't trigger such a memory, unless he was familiar with the name, knew it was their lead singer, and then recalled the pain/felt disgusted about it by viewing the name and remembering it. Plus, they'd be pretty young; what's the likelihood of them remembering that? The only way they'd be able to recall something like that is if their adopted/foster parents tell them about it when they're older. But I don't think they would, considering it could tear the kid apart knowing some monster took advantage of them as a baby.

Very unlikely.
A kid reacting in disgust or repulsion from simply walking into a record store makes no sense. If the kid was aware of the band, and stumbled upon the name in 15 years, where nobody will know, care, or likely remember Lostprophets, and knew what happened to them then, then that would trigger a response.
Even then, they were pretty young. What's the likelihood of them remembering something like that? I'm not a psychiatrist, but how much memories do you recall at the age of 1, to, say, 4-years-old? I don't remember much from my childhood; the earliest I can remember is some stuff from when I was 4, and it's not exactly specific, either.
I believe kids as young as that can recall something traumatic, but I don't know if being as young as 1-years-old you could recall something like that; at the age of 4, it's more than likely than a 1-year-old.
Pretty much the only way they would recall the incident would be through their adopted/foster parents telling them about the incident, say the kid finds out they're not his or her real parents and wants to know why he's in there care.
If they told him what happened to youth, that should trigger a response of disgust, and seeing either Ian Walkin's name or the band name should be a reminder, not randomly walking into a record store, and then BOOM! He remembers what Ian Walkins and his mother did to him when he was 1-years-old. It's an absurd, and unlikely, scenario.

I am a psychology student and we were taught that even though they will probably not retain memories trauma and complications in later life are still very possible. Not that I agree with the comment you're responding to, it's bs but it's not that his actions had zero psychological effects on the babies.

I admit you have good points. But still, to keep the CDs would still be a huge disrespect to the victims, as if the art that the band produced (and the money it makes) somehow validates having a sick, twisted sex-obsessed paedophile being recognised for his music.

I doubt their albums would still be relevant 15-years from now. It sucks that the rest of the band is suffering from this, too.
I'm not familiar with any other CD places doing the same thing, but who wants to keep albums on their shelf of a band who had their lead singer do the stuff he did? Could you imagine, if Lostprophet albums were available for purchase, you buy it because you're curious to listen, only to look up more on the band and find out the stuff he's done? I remember stumbling upon one of their songs years ago, but never had any interest in it. If I actually listened to this band, I'd be disgusted knowing I listened to a band with a guy like Ian Wilkins in it.

It doesn't validate the things Ian did, but neither is it exactly connected by anything more than association. I, for example, very much like the stories by H.P. Lovecraft and I bet lots of you have seen the movie Ender's game despite the fact that Lovecraft was a racist and OSC was an enormous homophobe. People use DC power despite Tesla being pro eugenics. To me, the things people produce and the individual ideas they have don't infringe on other ideas they have or on other things they do. A chair isn't less of a chair when it's made by a serial killer. Nor is a song less of a song when it's vocalized by a pedophile rapist. I understand that people may feel differently about works of art as it's closer to the 'mind' of the producer but in all reality it's not. Just as some lostprophets songs may be interpreted as having some pedophilia related lines, a murderer can think of slicing up his victim as carving an inlay.
(Fun fact; there is a 100% chance you've breathed a part of the air that has left many a rapist's and killer's lungs.)
In the end, my opinion is that HMV should do whatever they want because public opinion isn't something to be taken lightly. I'm just saying the public opinion isn't necessarily all that logical.

Comparing it to breathing air and making a chair is absurd; I'm referring to music that people have been emotionally connected to, not the oxygen in the air that we need in order to breathe or something you sit on and don't give much of a shit about in any other regards.

I think comparing people like Tesla and H.P. Lovecraft to Ian Watkins is a bit silly personally. Eugenics was considered a legitimate science back in Tesla's day and most people were also racist back then too. I get what you mean, but seeing as Ian was essentially the voice of the band (musically, not beliefs or anything else like that) it will be hard for people to listen to their music now because of what he has done.

Why? The music has nothing to do with Ian's personal life. It's just music - and it's not only Ian's music, it's also the other band members' music. And even if it was just Ian's music, so what? How does the music have anything to do with the horrible things Ian did?
It's kind of the same as saying you hate Kiss because of Gene Simmons's personal life or Guns N' Roses because of Axl Rose's personal life (not because of their music). I can like a band without liking what its members do in their personal lives. I like a band because of their music.